Kelowna Earns First Win at 2015 Mastercard Memorial Cup
May 25, 2015 - Western Hockey League (WHL) News Release
Quebec City, QC - The Kelowna Rockets downed the QMJHL Champion Rimouski Oceanic by a 7-3 score on Monday night at the Pepsi Colisee to earn their first win of the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup.
With the win, the Rockets are now guaranteed to move past the round robin portion of the tournament and will at least play a tie-breaker game. Now with a 1-1 record, Kelowna will play the 2-0 Oshawa Generals on Tuesday night.
Nick Merkley, Gage Quinney and Leon Draisaitl each scored two goals while 11 different Kelowna skaters recorded at least one point in the game. Merkley, Draisaitl and team captain Madison Bowey each had three points on the night and Merkley was named the game's first star. With five points (3g-2a), Merkley also now leads the tournament in scoring.
Kelowna came out of the gates flying with goals from Merkley, Quinney and Bowey, but Rimouski fought back with a pair of goals to make it a 3-2 Rockets edge after 20 minutes.
The second period was all Kelowna with goals from Merkley, Quinney and Draisaitl to make it a 6-2 game. The Oceanic replaced Louis-Philip Guindon with Philippe Desrosiers in net after the Rockets' fifth goal.
Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Frederik Gauthier potted a marker for the Oceanic, but a great individual effort from Draisaitl closed out the game's scoring as the Rockets took a 7-3 victory at Le Colisee.
Jackson Whistle made 28 saves for the Rockets while the Oceanic tandem faced 36 shots from Kelowna. The Rockets went 1/5 on the powerplay, while Rimouski finished 2/6 with the man advantage.
Kelowna returns to action on Tuesday night when they attempt to down the OHL Champion Oshawa Generals at 7:30pm EDT, live on Sportsnet.
The 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup is proudly supported by MasterCard, title sponsor of this event for 17 straight years. Associate sponsors include BMO Bank of Montreal, SUBWAY, Cooper Tires, and autoTRADER.ca.
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Western Hockey League Stories from May 25, 2015
- Kelowna Earns First Win at 2015 Mastercard Memorial Cup - WHL
- Rockets Blast Rimouski 7-3 - Kelowna Rockets
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